Family Reunion Part II

About a week ago I blogged about my Sainsbury family reunion up in Kamas.  It was a wonderful, fabulous week.  The nice thing for our family, however, was that when it was over, we couldn't be too glum, because we sailed straight into our England family reunion.  And yes, it all happened at the same place, people.  So, here is part two of our two weeks of fun!

We really do love this pool up in Kamas!  It's a perfect place for young and old to get together and hang out.  One of my favorite things we did was play water volleyball.  It was in-laws against "the establishments".  The in-laws did not win, but it was a close game:)

 We spent a lot of time around the fire pit.  While there, we had s'more laughs, s'more talks, s'mores. . .

 We also went up to Washington Lake campground for a yummy dinner.  I love Utah mountains, they are just so beautiful.

Mckay loves his cousins Jax and Max.  Those three get up to all sorts of mischief when they are together.  One of their favorite activities involve taking grandma's cereal and eating it, while somehow managing to spill most of it all over the floor . . .

One fun day all of Chase's cousins and their kids came up for a huge party.  Chase was the fun cousin who drove the younger kids around in the Ranger.  The more the merrier!

We had a wonderful time with our England side of the family.  I wish I could always just go from family reunion to family reunion!

Hello, My Name is Logan

It's been such a busy summer with so many fun events worth blogging about that I have neglected to post an update on my little boys.  They are growing so fast, and are in stages of life that have such fun milestones.  I have been especially bad when it comes to blogging Logan's progress, so today he's getting a turn all by himself.

 Logan is now a big fan of food!  It did take about three (and a wake-up call to his mom that he did NOT like vegetables) before he really embraced the whole solid-foods concept.  But now he is a big, big fan. His favorites are applesauce and a mixed-berry-banana combo.

 Logan loves to sit up, and can do it quite well all by himself. I still put a blanket back behind him in order to catch the occasional tumble, but most of the day he will sit contentedly on the rug playing with his toys.

He proved to be a little fish this summer, and spent literally hours in his swimming tube up in Kamas.
Other fun milestones include:
- sleeping 11 hours at night only waking up once (hooray!)
- eating cheerios off his tray by himself.
- developing a healthy dose stranger anxiety.  He likes to cry when I am not in his direct line of sight.
- being a good sport as Mckay plays with him.

We love you, Logan!  It's so fun watching you learn and grow.

Thanksgiving Gardens

In my opinion, the best traditions are ones that unfold naturally.  An example of this is our annual visit to the Thanksgiving Gardens.  Four years ago, Chase proposed to me here.  Every August since, thanks to "Two-Buck Tuesdays", we have revisited the gardens as a family.

 Taking a picture at the top of this big hill always makes me feel a little bit like a queen.

 I don't know who enjoyed the big hill more, Mckay or Chase.

 Mckay spent most of the time at the gardens with his Aunt Rachel.

 Even without the lighting in this picture, he looks like a little angel, doesn't he?

One of Mckay's favorite past times was sniffing the roses at the rose garden.

 Trying to figure out how to get to the Secret Garden.  Apparently, it was a little too secretive for us to find it easily!

"The Spot" in the Secret Garden where Chase proposed to me.  A few things have changed since then;)

I absolutely love coming to the gardens at Thanksgiving Point.  We will go again next year, so mark it on your calendars to come explore with us!

Once Upon Ikea

Once upon a time a young king and queen lived in a cinderblock palace with their two young princes.  The two young princes had lots of toys they loved to play with.  The only problem is, there was very little room in the cinderblock palace and no place to put the toys, so the palace usually looked like this:

Finally the king could stand it no more.

"Let's go to Ikea and get something to put all this stuff in."

"I don't like Ikea," the queen said.  "I'd rather go to Target."

The king said, "I know you don't like Ikea, but the furniture there is made for small places that have no storage areas.  Plus, it's cheap."

The queen knew that the king was right, so she reluctantly went to Ikea.  Once they got there, they ate a mighty feast of meatballs, then proceeded to go shopping.  There were many strange and wonderful things in Ikea, like rugs for under $100, and storage shelves of every shape and size.  They returned from their conquest, put the princes down for a nap, and proceeded to assemble their prizes.

It was hard work, but luckily the queen had given the king lots of tools for Father's Day, so he was quickly able to assemble things.  Once it was all complete, the queen decided that Ikea was pretty cool after all. 

 Now the king and queen can enjoy their cinderblock palace because there's a place for everything, and everything is in it's proper place!

At least, that is, until the little princes wake up.

The end.

Family Reunion -Part 1

I feel like from July 24 until now, my life has been one series of family gatherings and reunions after another.  I did the math and realized that I have been gone three of the last four weeks.  It's been such a party!
The first of August brought on the Sainsbury Reunion.  With Seth and Julie returning from New York where Seth had his internship, and with Matt & Jaime's family in from Texas, we finally had the whole family together!  It doesn't happen very often, so when it does, it is reason to celebrate.  We started off the week by taking family photos.

This isn't one of the actual professional photos, but I was one of those moms who was snapping pictures behind the camera man:)  Here are the proud grandparents of six beautiful little kids.

Then we headed up to Kamas cabin where we had a week of fun that included playing Rook, watching movies, swimming, taking ATV's through the Uintas, visiting Salt Lake's Museum of Natural History, and enjoying each other's company.

 The three England men tolerated the pool quite well.  Mckay is actually starting to LIKE the swimming pool!  Logan loved the water, and would sit contentedly for hours at a time. . . which is good, because we probably swam 2+ hours every day.

 Grandma Sainsbury took the grandkids on a little hike up in the Uintahs.  It was such a beautiful area that I had to snap a photo.  Just don't look too closely at Avenlea in the background.  Apparently, she had to go to the bathroom and I did not notice.

 Mckay loved ATV-ing up at Soapstone Pass.  It is such a breathtakingly beautiful place, and while all the rest of Utah is a sweltering 90+ degrees, we enjoyed a beautiful day in the mid-70's zipping around in the mountains.

Logan loves his "little" cousin Walter.  These two were never far apart, usually playing with the same toys and smiling at each other.

The 5 days we were up in Kamas zipped by so quickly.  I was so happy that we got to spend time together and that Mckay and Logan got to know their cousins better.

28 Years Old

Twenty-eight years old. . . .

. . . and I have been greatly blessed.   I have had 28 years of loving family, the gospel of Jesus Christ, and a lifetime of tender mercies and good experiences.  I am grateful for my sweet husband, my two wonderful children, my family, and my friends.  I am so filled with awe and gratitude for all of my many blessings.

24th of July

Ever since I was a little girl my family has made the annual trek to Manassa, Colorado, to visit my grandma, have an Anderson family reunion, and celebrate the 24th of July festivities.  I haven't been there now for three years, and was excited to be able to go back there, this time with Mckay and Logan.  We left Chase behind for a week and journeyed to Colorado with Grandma and Grandpa Sainsbury and Anne.

One of my favorite things to do over the 24th is run the Manassa 5k.  Here we are just before the race starts.  I have run many a 5k in my time, but none are as hard as this one!  Maybe it has to do with the fact that Manassa's elevation is very close to 8,000 about sea level.  Either way, it was exhausting, but I was proud of myself.  Mckay and Logan cheered me on at the finish line.

Right after the 5k the Pioneer Day Parade starts.  Mckay loved the "horsies" most of all.

Logan was a good sport at the parade.  Next year you can get some candy too buddy!

What would an Anderson family reunion be without lots of pictures?  Here we are Sunday afternoon.

Monday was such an adventure!  We road a "choo-choo train" up Cumbre's pass.  This train was super cool.  It was one of those old-fashioned steam engines, and mountain pass we headed up was just breathtakingly gorgeous.

Mckay loooovvvveeed the train. . . almost as much as he loved his Grandpa!

The next day we went to Zapata Falls.  It kind of reminded me of the Grotto up Payson Canyon, or Calf Creek Falls down in Escalante, Utah.  It was a nice, cool place to spend an afternoon.  The water was freezing, so I couldn't convince myself to hike through the river to the falls, but it was fun to wait by the river and watch Mckay throw rocks in it, and let little Logan kick on the ground.

I am so grateful I decided to come to this reunion.  Preserving family relationships is very important, and I am grateful that my kids got exposed to a big part of their heritage, and that they got to know some of their extended family so much better.